With an infectious laugh punctuating her words, Nicole Small recalls getting the email most MBAs never receive: Has anyone seen the snake?

That was a decade ago, two weeks after she took over as chief executive of the Dallas Natural History Museum in Fair Park — the start of her improbable journey from the dot-com world to business consultant to the face of, and a driving force behind, the magnificent new Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Victory Park. (The snake was found.)

The incident illustrates the 39-year-old Dallas native’s unflappable resolve to defeat challenges, from the unconventional moments at work to a life-changing battle against breast cancer.

When naysayers said the Perot Museum would never raise enough money to be built, Small countered with energy and purpose. The $185 million, 180,000-square-foot museum opened Dec. 1, ahead of schedule and debt-free, an amazing accomplishment that places Small among the finalists for 2012 Dallas Morning News Texan of the Year.

Although she never thought she’d run a museum, Small’s deep interest in science and learning wasn’t an accident.

“Education was very important for my family,” said Small, a Hockaday School graduate whose father, Charles Ginsburg, is senior associate dean at UT Southwestern Medical Center and whose late mother was a full-time volunteer. “I had grown up in a house where discovery in early childhood was a core discussion. … Now our job here [at the Perot Museum] is to tell kids that they can be anything they want, too.”

After receiving an MBA from Northwestern University in 1999, she followed the dot-com roller coaster to San Francisco, where she dabbled with startups. “It taught me about taking calculated risks. … I’d thought of myself as a more traditional person, but in taking that leap, I learned I had an entrepreneurial bug.”

When the dot-com era soured, she returned to Dallas and, at the urging of Natural History Museum trustee David Corrigan, took over as its chief executive. She then guided the merger of her museum with the Science Place and Dallas Children’s Museum, setting the stage for consolidating downtown under one roof as the Perot Museum.

“She’s just so passionate about it. It’s like, give her something to do and get out of the way,” said Corrigan.

Small joined with energy executive and museum patron Forrest Hoglund to organize fundraising. The Perot family’s $50 million contribution provided momentum, and the hiring of world-class architect Thom Mayne gave the museum its distinctive look.

Small has created a museum true to her wish to raise the profile of science and technology in North Texas and to inspire youngsters to discover math, science and engineering. It’s also a major addition to a resurgent downtown Dallas. To many people who know her, Small is even more inspirational because her work delivering the museum coincided with months of cancer treatment.

So what’s the next step for the museum? “We just sent out the baby announcement,” she quipped. “Now we have to raise the baby.”

Coming Sunday

2012 FINALISTS

Nicole Small

Force behind Perot Museum

Julián Castro

San Antonio mayor, trailblazer

Baylor’s Lady Bears

Basketball perfectionists

Houston’s YES Prep

Nation’s top charter school

Brett Giroir

Bio-threat visionary

Ted Cruz

Political giant slayer

Cecile Richards

Women’s health crusader

Lance Armstrong

Cycling legend, disgraced

Jason Roberts

New urban evangelist

TEXAN OF THE YEAR: A Texan (or Texans) who has had uncommon impact — either positive or negative — over the past year.